| 1 | 2 | 3 | F | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
 |
1 | 1 | 3 | 5 |
|
CBJ GOALS: |
||||
Another shutout loss for the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Nick Robertson and William Nylander scored twice each for the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday night, leading the Leafs to a 5-0 win over the Blue Jackets and putting Columbus' playoff chances on life support.
"I don't think we were desperate enough in the third period," said captain Boone Jenner. "They scored pretty much right away. So that's on us."
It was Columbus' fifth shutout loss in the last 14 games after being held off the scoreboard just three times in their first 61 games.
This one puts the Blue Jackets' playoff chances in serious jeopardy: the loss, combined with a win by the Montreal Canadiens, sends Columbus six points back of the final wild card spot in the Eastern Conference with just seven games left on their schedule.
Here's how an Ontario back-to-back got started in a tough way:
1st Period:
(10:03 — TOR Goal): Werenski has the puck in Columbus' own zone but his attempt to move it up ice is unsuccessful after the puck bounces off Toronto's Steven Lorentz near the blue line. It slides to Merzlikins, but his clearing attempt goes off the skate off Werenski. The puck drifts over to Pontus Holmberg, who dishes to Robertson in the slot. His shot beats Elvis Merzlikins; 1-0 Toronto.
2nd Period:
(6:41 — Kuraly vs. Lorentz): Sean Kuraly gets his first fighting major since opening night of the 2021-22 season when he drops the gloves with Steven Lorentz.
Steven Lorentz and Sean Kuraly go from a wrestling match to a full-blown tilt pic.twitter.com/SwIMUVWB3G
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) April 6, 2025
(12:28 — TOR Goal): The Maple Leafs extend their lead to 2-0 on Roberton's second goal of the night. This one involves another unfortunate bounce for Werenski the Blue Jackets: Z's clearing attempt off the boards is successful but gets batted down just outside of the zone. Domi picks it up and enters the zone with Robertson on a 2-on-1. Robertson gets the puck, fires from the circle, and doubles the Toronto lead.
3rd Period:
(1:11, 4:21 — TOR Goals): Nylander scores his team-leading 43rd and 44th goals of the season just over three minutes apart to put the game out of reach for the Blue Jackets. His first comes after picking up a rebound before Merzlikins could reset; that made it 3-0. His second goal comes after cutting into the slot past Provorov and firing a wrister to make it 4-0.
(8:59 — Olivier vs Benoit): Another fight, this time between Mathieu Olivier and Simon Benoit. There's not much to it, but Olivier gets an early one to land before the refs eventually jump in.
Mathieu Olivier and Simon Benoit drop the gloves! pic.twitter.com/AAzQvN95q0
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) April 6, 2025
(16:27 — TOR Goal): Auston Matthews gets his 30th goal of the season to add another exclamation point and make it 5-0 Toronto.
| CBJ | GAME STATS | TOR |
|---|---|---|
| 27 | SHOTS | 27 |
| 42% | FACEOFFS | 58% |
| 0/1 | POWER PLAY | 0/1 |
| 1/1 | PENALTY KILL | 1/1 |
| 18 | HITS | 24 |
| 17 | GIVEAWAYS | 15 |
| 5 | TAKEAWAYS | 2 |
| 15 | BLOCKED SHOTS | 14 |
| ALL SITUATIONS ADVANCED STATS | ||
| 1.62 | EXPECTED GOALS | 2.38 |
| 58 | SHOT ATTEMPTS | 54 |
| 21 | SCORING CHANCES | 28 |
| 7 | HIGH-DANGER CHANCES | 11 |
| Data via NHL.com & NaturalStatTrick.com | ||
Stat Chat:
-
The Blue Jackets equaled the Maple Leafs in shots on goal (27) and had a slight, 58-54 edge on shot attempts — but the shot quality was not good. Columbus had just seven high-danger chances on the night and only one in the third period when they needed a goal most.
-
Kent Johnson's ascension to the top line for this game yielded nothing. He had no shots on goal in 16:45 of ice time, including 1:46 on the power play.
- Merzlikins has now allowed 30 goals in his last starts, an average of five per game. His save percentage is .838 in those starts.
Up Next:
The second leg of an Ontario back-to-back concludes with a 5 p.m. puck-drop Sunday afternoon against the Ottawa Senators. This is more or less a must-win for the Blue Jackets.
